Breast Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Breast Cancer, including details on symptoms, genetics, screening, treatment, information.

Matching health messages to monitor-blunter coping styles to motivate screening mammography.

Williams-Piehota P, Pizarro J, Schneider TR, Mowad L, Salovey P

Health, Emotions, and Behavior Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8205, USA.

This study examined whether providing messages matched to women's monitor-blunter coping styles is effective in encouraging mammography utilization. Female callers to a cancer information hotline were assessed at the end of their regular telephone call and classified as monitors or blunters. A randomly assigned message promoting mammography utilization, tailored for monitors or blunters, was delivered on the telephone, and a similarly tailored brochure and refrigerator magnet were mailed to participants immediately after their call. Women were telephoned 6 and 12 months later to determine whether they had obtained a mammogram. Messages matched to a woman's monitor-blunter coping style encouraged mammography after 6 months more effectively than mismatched messages and were significantly more effective for blunters but not for monitors.

Published 5 January 2005 in Health Psychol, 24(1): 58-67.
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